Author: Marshall Schott

I bought my first kegerator back in 2010, it was a small dorm fridge with a tower that had 2 low-grade faucets on it. It only took a couple months of forcefully dislodging stuck faucets for me to realize I wanted something with better components that would also fit more beer, so I sold it and built a kegerator out of a used fridge I found online. In addition to having the room to hold 3 kegs, it also had a freezer where I stored the hops I’d recently started purchasing in bulk.

I really liked that kegerator for all of the 4 or so months I owned it. My biggest issue was, as I trust many obsessed brewers can relate, it simply didn’t hold enough kegs. So, I sold it and built a 5-tap keezer that, after a couple years, was expanded to 7-taps. This keezer had been a part of my brewery since the dawn of Brülosophy and has served hundreds of xBmt, The Hop Chronicles, Short & Shoddy, and Brü It Yourself beers over the years. It’s a weird thought, but Brülosophy likely wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for this keezer.

With the addition of The Brülosophy Podcast in 2017 and The Brü Lab podcast this year, I’ve had to adapt my role to ensure consistent content production. I still brew regularly, just not as often because I’m dedicating more time to managing stuff behind-the-scenes while the rest of the Brülosophy team handles most of the brewing (they’re better than me anyway). A while ago, a friend asked when I was planning to have more than just 3 beers flowing from my keezer, and I responded that, unless they all stopped drinking what I brewed, it likely wouldn’t happen again.

It took me a few months to get comfortable with the idea of letting go of the keezer that had served me so well for nearly a decade, in part because I’m a sappy sentimentalist, though I also baulked at the idea of building something new to replace it. It wasn’t until contributor Andy Carter wrote about his positive experience using certain fittings that I decided it was time for me to make similar upgrades and figured I may as well start anew.

3-Tap Kegerator Build

After determining that 3-taps would be ideal for my current brewing situation, I made a list of all the parts I would need to make this kegerator work the way I wanted it to.

The Parts

Having built numerous kegerators and keezers over the years, I was well aware of everything I needed to get, but I still had some preferential decisions to make. Price-wise, I wanted to stick close to what I sold my keezer for, though I also wanted to make sure my new rig would meet all of my needs. I really needed to free up some space in my family freezer and was set on going with a kegerator over a keezer, which meant deciding on the size and color of a refrigerator. Wanting enough space to hold a case of Fine Pilsner in addition to 3 kegs, I went with a new black 20.5 cu. ft. foot unit with a top freezer for ample hop storage.

I own multiple CO2 tanks, so I was good on that, but I did include the regulator when I sold the keezer, so I snagged a new one for this build.

I love being able to independently control the pressure to each keg, as it allows me to burst carbonate one beer at high psi without cutting off gas to anything else that might be on tap. For this reason, I went with a 3-way secondary regulator rather than a standard gas manifold.

Having been beyond happy with the stainless Intertap faucets on my keezer, I initially planned to go that route on this kegerator. However, when searching MoreBeer, I discovered the newer Nukatap Stealth Bomber faucets and was admittedly swayed as much by their sexy look as I was the price.

After measuring the thickness of the refrigerator door, I settled on stainless 3 3/8 in. shanks, which would fit nicely without sticking too far into the kegerator. Also, I made a point not to get shanks that have built-in tailpieces.

Heavily influenced by contributor Andy Carter’s positive review, I opted to use 13 feet/4 meters of 4 mm ID EVABarrier beverage line per faucet along with Duotight push-in fittings. This extended length and slightly smaller inner diameter than standard 3/16 in. beer line would afford me more flexibility in carbonation level and serving pressure.

A few months prior to building this kegerator, I was contacted by friend and sponsor of Brülosophy, Kegtron, who asked if I might be interested in trying out their relatively new Kegtron Pro product and providing feedback on my experience. Not wanting to adapt my keezer at the time, I turned the initial offer down. Then, after going public with my plans to build a new kegerator, they reached out again. After stating their full awareness that the Kegtron Pro is aimed at commercial brewers and explaining they weren’t so much seeking a product review as they were private feedback, I agreed to give it a shot.

With all of the parts gathered, it was time to put this beast together!

The Build

My first order of business was determining tap placement. To keep things simple and clean, I decided to place the faucets on the right side of the door, nearest the hinge, then proceeded with precisely measuring the spots where the holes needed to be drilled.

After ensuring the 3 spots I measured out were properly spaced and level, I drilled pilot holes with a small drill bit.

Next, I used a 1 in. hole saw to drill out the holes for the shanks, doing my best to keep it as neat as possible.

With the holes drilled and cleaned up, I installed the shanks and faucets.

Rather than using the standard nipple tailpiece, I securely attached the Duotight fittings to the shanks.

At this point, I moved onto the secondary regulator, which I attached to the fridge wall using small screws.

The bottom shelf of the fridge being glass, I was concerned the weight of 3 full kegs plus a 30-pack of Miller Lite might break it, so I cut a piece of plywood to the same size and replaced the original shelf with it.

Next, I attached 3 feet/1 meter of 5/16 in. gas tubing to each regulator before connecting the other ends to gas ball lock disconnects.

With the gas lines taken care of, it was time to move on to the liquid side of things, and seeing as the liquid lines run through the Kegtron, I started there first. The Kegtron comes equipped to work with 3/8 in./9.5 mm OD tubing, and since I was using the 4 mm EVABarrier tubing with a 5/16 in./8 mm OD, I had to pick up some reducer fittings to make it work. They slid right in to create a very secure fit.

Unfortunately, I only ordered 4 rather than 6 reducers on the first go-round– so much for saving on shipping. Anyway, it was at this point I realized I would need to get power to the Kegtron unit since it would be inside the kegerator, so rather than run the cord out of the door, I drilled a small hole in the lower corner of the refrigerator wall, ran the power cord through it, then sealed it up with some black insulative putty.

Finally, I secured the Kegtron unit to the inner wall of the fridge with the included adhesive velcro, taped the power cord to the wall to keep it out of the way, then connected the power to ensure it was working.

Before installing the liquid line, I realized it was going to move around quite a bit when opening the door and came up with a simple solution to keep it all in place– a 2 in. hole in the shelf beneath the shanks through which the lines would be run.

With the goal of keeping things as neat as possible, the lengths of tubing running between the Kegtron and the taps were sized to account for the door opening, so each was slightly different, as were the lengths of tubing between the kegs and the Kegtron. With each tap having 13 feet/4 meters of beverage line in total, I coiled the extra up and taped it to the back wall of the fridge.

And that was it for the inside of the kegerator! Being the clean freak I am, I bought a 10 in. stainless drip tray and began the process of attaching it beneath the faucets by ensuring it was properly placed and level.

I wanted to keep the sleek look of this dark kegerator and painted the drip tray to match with multiple coats of a satin black spray paint.

When the drip tray was dry a couple hours later, I attached it to the fridge, tightening the screws just enough so that I could slide it off for easy cleaning.

While the majority of what I drink comes from a keg or a can, I also regularly have bottles around, so I attached a black bottle opener next to the taps for good measure.

And that’s it, my brand new 3-tap kegerator!

| The Verdict |

I’ve built many kegerators and keezers over the last decade, so I knew very well what I wanted going into this one, and I’m very pleased with the outcome. I love the all black look, the longer lengths of 4 mm EVABarrier beer line allow me to pour beautiful pints at relatively high pressure, and the Nukatap faucets are legit. To round everything out, I bought a few brand new slimline Torpedo kegs, which fit beautifully in the keezer and look nice to boot.

Why the switch from pin lock to ball lock?

As happy as I was with pin lock kegs, everybody I know locally uses ball lock including the primary brewer for The Hop Chronicles, Paul Amico. This meant that any time we wanted to share beers, we’d have to muck around with swapping out disconnects, which was a pain in the ass. That was the sole reason I went with ball lock kegs for this build.

How much did it cost?

It wasn’t cheap, but that’s because I chose to buy everything brand new, from the fridge to the kegs. Thankfully, I was able to get a decent price for my 7-tap keezer, which made the hit a little less painful. The total for this kegerator build was right around $1600, not including the Kegtron Pro unit, which was the only thing provided by a sponsor.

What about the Kegtron Pro, anyway?

I trust more than a few people are wondering about this high end piece of gear, so to be completely frank– I wouldn’t necessarily recommend homebrewers buy a Kegtron Pro for use in their kegerator or keezer. That said, it truly is a thing of beauty, packed with a ton of features designed to help commercial brewers closely monitor their beer stock. Information on various beers can be stored in the Kegtron cloud and put “online” when they’re being served, and multiple units can be chained together to accommodate any number of taps.

The amount of information tracked is quite astonishing, from dates and times specific beers were served to the precise amounts left in the keg. I made sure to input accurate starting volumes on every keg I put in the kegerator since building it and the Kegtron Pro was spot on with the remaining volumes.

Prior to this kegerator build, I’d used the Kegtron Gen 1 monitor and found it to be equally as accurate, hence that’s what I’d recommend for those homebrewers who share my level of neurosis, as it’s quite a bit less expensive than the Kegtron Pro.

If you have any thoughts about this DIY, please do not hesitate to share them in the comments section below!

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